1、专业英语八级（阅读）模拟试卷 51（无答案）0 As you sat across the Thanksgiving table basking in the warmth of family and the aroma of chestnut stuffing, most likely you did not remember the vicious comment your Aunt Jennifer made about you a few years back. You didnt dwell on Uncle Julios unkind reference to your drink
2、ing last Christmas or what cousin Duwan said about your girlfriend during that dreadful vacation at the shore. At family holidays, we tend to embrace our relatives even after months or years of not having seen one another, regardless of the quarrels we have had in the past.We may chalk up our genero
3、us forgiveness to the festive spirit of the holiday, but the real reason has nothing to do with Thanksgiving; it is because of how we humans rememberand forget. Cognitive experts tell us that forgetting is fundamental to how we make sense of the world. Forgetting helps us survive, by making sure we
4、dont dwell in the past.In the digital age, that mechanism of our humanity is under threat.We all hate when we cant remember something. We think of it as a bug of the human mind. We dont realize that by discarding most of the avalanche of details that our senses are bombarded with every day, as well
5、as past wounds, our brain helps us focus on the important things; it lets us see the forest rather than just the trees. We may learn from our failures, but thankfully we also easily forget them.Human memories are not fixed; they are reconstructed. We remember more easily what we remember often. More
6、 important, we tend to forget memories that dont fit into our current world vision; our brains discard them as no longer important. That way, we forgive one another(and ourselves)for past transgressions. Thus our memories of most past experiences wither.Forgetting misdeeds that we deem no longer rel
7、evant is a powerful mechanism; and the best part of it is that its built into us. But it also means that operation is thwarted in a world of comprehensive memory, a world in which we are constantly reminded of our past.Our ever-improving digital tools record billions of Facebook messages and more th
8、an 300 million tweets every daynot to mention our private e-mail accounts, with their photos and videos. Logging our lives is becoming the norm, and having a comprehensive digital memory at our disposal is the default.Many people are concerned about what this does to privacy. I am worried about Than
9、ksgivingthe warmth and joy that may be lost when we keep being reminded of every mistake, every quarrel, every disagreement.With comprehensive digital memories all around us, forgetting one anothers offenses becomes more difficult; through our digital tools well be alerted to all we thought we had f
10、orgotten. This will make it harder for us to forgive.In one of his short stories, author Jorge Luis Borges describes a young man who after an accident can no longer forget. He can remember perfectly all the books he has read, but he has been unable to learn anything from them, because learning invol
11、ves the distilling of abstract thought from detailed memories, after which the latter fade away. Thus it, too, necessitates forgetting. In future Thanksgivings, our data glasses might identify family members through facial recognition, and within a split second, display old e-mails and images, tweet
12、s and posts, reminding us in excruciating detail of their(and our)past shortcomings.Some say that well adapt by disregarding these digital memories. But it is naive to think that if so directly reminded of earlier quarrels, well be able to put the revived memory aside. Our brain is trained to rememb
13、er events we thought we had forgotten when given an external stimulus. Automatically disregarding revived memories is as hard as deliberately forgetting thingswe cant do it.We need to appreciate and preserve forgetting as a feature of humanity. To do so may require us to adapt our digital tools. Unl
14、ike our brains, they can easily be rewired. With the help of the companies that design our online tools, we could let tweets and Facebook comments expire over time. We could choose the photos in our digital libraries we want to remember, and the e-mails we hold dear, as we let the rest slowly disapp
15、ear, giving us a renewed and much-needed chance to forget.This would preserve in the digital age our ability to grow, to learn and to forgive. And it would give us a better shot at having a rancor-free family holiday. That alone would be worth it.1 We can learn from the first two paragraphs that_.（A
16、）holidays like Thanksgiving make people forgetful（B） family members always poke unkind comments toward each other（C） forgetting is important to human experiences（D）cognitive experts tell us the meaning of the world2 Which of the following words is used literally, NOT metaphorically?（A）Dwell(Paragrap
17、h One).（B） Festive(Paragraph Two).（C） Avalanche(Paragraph Four).（D）Forest(Paragraph Four).3 According to the passage, humans mechanism of forgetting is under threat in the digital age because_.（A）the mechanism of forgetting is no longer with us in this age（B） dealing with Facebook messages, e-mails,
18、 tweets, etc. keeps us occupied（C） advanced digital tools help us decide what to forget（D）a comprehensive digital memory constantly reminds us of the past4 Which of the following statements can NOT be inferred from the story written by Jorge Luis Borges?（A）Learning is a more complex process than rea
19、ding.（B） The young man cannot form detailed memories from the books hes read.（C） Forgetting involves discarding most detailed memories.（D）It would be a painful experience if we were unable to forget.5 In the last two paragraphs of the passage, the author_.（A）concludes the problem and puts forward so
20、me suggestions（B） restates the topic and raises his/her doubts（C） summarizes the causes for the problem and its effects（D）summarizes his/her argument and invites further discussion5 As a Floridian whos weathered his share of hurricanes, I can more than sympathize with my northeastern countrymen as t
21、hey begin the lousy task of cleaning up after Sandy. But theres one commonality that stands out for me as a parent. Just as “ Frankenstorm“ struck days before Halloween, so did Hurricane Wilma wreck South Florida seven years ago this week. My kids were teens then(remember Harry Potter costumes?)and
22、I have a piece of advice now for the parents of trick-or-treaters from Virginia to Maine: Dont cancel Halloween, as Im seeing so many towns up there announcing theyll do. Postpone it. Delay it. But as soon as you can, have it.That might sound like fairly trivial counsel given the deadly havoc the No
23、rtheast is dealing with at this moment. But that grim situationand the impact Ive personally seen it have on childrenis precisely the reason Im offering it. During times like this, one crucial thing kids need is a reassuring sign or two of normalcy. Whats more, if youre going to have a hurricane hit
24、 you during a holiday, Halloween is the best when it comes to children; For all its lighthearted revelry of costumes and candy, this delightfully gothic autumn festival also manages to teach kids something about confronting lifes darker side.Wilma tore across Florida a week before Halloween in 2005,
25、 on Oct. 24, littering the peninsulas southern half with uprooted trees, exploded rooftops and glass shards from high-rise condominium windows. Almost 40 people were killed; more than 3 million of us were without power for weeks, and the damage topped $20 billion. I remember interviewing a group of
26、shell-shocked elementary school kids whod been having a “hurricane sleepover“ in a Miami Beach high-rise when the Category 2 winds destroyed the apartment and almost blew them into Biscayne Bay.Many people considered shutting Halloween down amid that mess. Still, when I looked up long enough from my
27、 own aggravating cleanup work, or from my deadline stories about the disaster, I could see the dispiriting effect that the prospect of ditching Halloween was having on my children, then aged 10 and 8. It wasnt just that they were losing out on the fun. Halloween by then had also become a comforting
28、part of their childrens almanac. Not having it would have left a hole that only compounded the hurricane trauma they were trying to absorb all around them.I might not have been so tuned in to their funk had I not covered Miamis Elian Gonzalez debacle five years earlier. The one thing the child psych
29、iatrists I interviewed then kept telling me was that Elidn, like any kid that age, needed structure returned to his life, especially after the horrifying experience of watching his mother drown in the Atlantic Ocean. I remembered that wisdom after Wilma, and it made me and a number of other parents
30、in our community resolve to forge ahead with a proper Halloween. Not just the trick-or-treating but a party afterward with ghost stories, bobbing for apples and limbo dancing. Observing Oct. 31, damn the mess, helped the kids forget Oct. 24 for a while, and Id be willing to bet they remember it as o
31、ne of their best Halloweens.And maybe, in retrospect, one of the more meaningful. Halloween doesnt just help kids forget their cares; it invites them to face their fears. Ive never understood parents who boycott Halloween because they believe it introduces children to the occult or even Satan worshi
32、p. As far as Im concerned, it does just the opposite. Halloween doesnt embrace deathit mocks it.(I would also remind conservative Christians that while its a secular holiday today, “Halloween“ traditionally means “All Hallows Eve,“ the night before All Saints Day on the Roman Catholic calendar.)In t
33、hat sense its a lot like Mexicos Day of the Dead, which unfolds every Nov. 2 in all its skeletons-and-marigolds splendor. I call the Day of the Dead the Mexican Halloween because it serves much the same harvest-season purpose: to make us less scared of death by letting us party with it for a moment.
34、That kind of positive ritual comes in handy when children are trying to make sense of tragedy. When I look at the 2005 Halloween photos of our neighborhood kids today, I see more than youngsters laughing at their fantasy frights. I also sense children who might be coping a bit better with the real m
35、ayhem theyd just witnessed. So in spite of this weeks catastrophe, let the kids put on a Frankenstein costumebecause it might help them put away their nightmares of Frankenstorm.6 What does the author mean by saying “But theres one commonality that stands out for me as a parent. “ in Paragraph One?（
36、A）He/She has a lot more memories of hurricanes than people in the northeast.（B） He/She has similar feelings toward natural disasters as parents in the northeast.（C） As a parent, he/she has also been hit by hurricanes during a holiday.（D）As a parent, he/she strongly opposes to the cancelling of Hallo
37、ween.7 We can infer from the second paragraph that_.（A）to observe Halloween is a suggestion not worth considering at a disaster time（B） children tend to suffer less during a hurricane than adults（C） some holidays help lessen the horrifying effects of a disaster（D）having joyful festivals will brighte
38、n peoples life to a large extent8 It can be learned from Elian Gonzalezs case in Paragraph Five that_.（A）the author is not concerned about Elidns emotional problems（B） Elidns case is an extraordinary one and cannot represent the other children（C） there is hardly any order in a kids everyday life（D）t
39、he author took more focus on that Halloween in order to help children reconstruct their life9 Which of the following statements about Halloween is INCORRECT according to the passage?（A）Its often connected with costumes and candy.（B） Its role of leading people to ghost worship is being reexamined by
40、the society.（C） Its an autumn festival which has its origin in western religions.（D）It exposes people to lifes darker side by mocking death.10 Which of the following best describes the authors development of writing?（A）Relating a current event with an earlier oneraising a suggestionswitching to the
41、past eventrestating some reasons for the suggestion.（B） Posing a problemanalyzing the situationputting forward some solutions.（C） Revealing a problemswitching to similar ones in the pastanalyzing the similarities between past and present.（D）Narrating a storycommenting on the storyinviting an open di
42、scussion.10 Frank Lloyd Wright is best known as a revolutionary American architect. A hallmark of his work is sensitivity to the natural environmentFallingwater, the house he built over a waterfall, is a prime example. But Mr. Wright had a second career as a collector of and dealer in Japanese block
43、 prints, continuing this business until his death in 1959 at the age of 91. At times, he made more money selling prints than he did from architecture.A small but insightful exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, comprising prints, architectural drawings from Mr. Wrights studio and archival obje
44、cts, highlights the Japans deep influence on his work.Mr. Wright was first captivated by Japanese art in 1893, when he saw Japans pavilions at the sprawling world fair in Chicago. His interest in Japans art and culture blossomed during several trips there starting in 1905. He opened an office in Jap
45、an in 1915 and lived there for a few years while building the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. “At last I had found one country on earth where simplicity, as nature, is supreme,“ he wrote.He returned from his first trip to Japan with hundreds of ukiyoe prints, planning to sell them in America. Mr. Wright of
46、ten sold his clients art to hang on the walls he had built, explaining that they complemented his streamlined interiors. Japanese prints, especially traditional bird and flower images, had easily understandable motifs.The prints were a commercial hit but Mr. Wright was also personally enthralled by
47、them. “A Japanese artist grasps form always by reaching underneath for its geometry, never losing sight of its spiritual efficacy,“ he wrote in The Japanese Print, a slim, 35-page book published in 1912. “These simple coloured engravings are indeed a language whose purpose is absolute beauty. “Accor
48、ding to Janice Katz, associate curator of Japanese art at the Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. Wright favoured prints by Utagawa Hiroshige, a Japanese artist who emphasized environment over human structures. Prints such as Mr. Hiroshiges Goyu: Women Stopping Travellers show buildings from a wide perspe
49、ctive. The flattened space and naturalistic detail of prints influenced architectural drawings in Mr. Wrights studio.For instance, a vertical scroll-like drawing called Perspective of Frank Lloyd Wrights Thomas P. Hardy House, Racine, Wisconsin leaves most of the brown page blank except the top right corner where a house perches precariously. A flowering branch, like those in bird and flower prints, pokes into the blank space. The draft was made by Marion Mahony Griffin, who worked for Mr.
